Each sysadmin only has the passwords they need, not the whole lot, and the pdas are looked after carefully. Each PDA has a different password, known only to the sysadmin.
You can't remotely bruteforce a Palm PDA. If it's stolen, then the batteries will die before the password is brute-forced by hand.
Well, that's the theory, but I know it isn't perfect. I'm still looking for a better solution.
I think the question isn't so much about storing passwords for systems to use, such as in LDAP or NIS directories, but about storing passwords for humans to access. The other half of a password system is also very important.
Directories like LDAP, Kerberos and NIS can reduce the number of passwords on a network and make maintenance easier (normal users can have one password for all systems they access) but there will still be many passwords. It's a very bad idea to give every workstation and server the same root password, for example.
Ordinary users can get by with one universal password for their network identity, but for system administrators it can be a nightmare. I've got about 130 passwords to keep track of.
The best solution I've come up with so far is to use cheap Palm PDAs to store the passwords, encrypted and locked with a good password itself, on special password storage apps. Each sysadmin can have a PDA with just their passwords on it. For about £80 each it isn't cheap, but it's a lot better than using password potected Word files, which I've seen other companies using. Don't use the Palm's own "secure" storage, it's useless for things that need to be really secure.
I'm still looking for a better solution - some way to store the passwords centrally and distribute them to each PDA depending on the requirements of each sysadmin would be great.
Of course, the way that passwords become so cumbersome in large quantities just shows how flawed passwords are. Hopefully Kerberos will catch on more - the advanced features of Kerberos help reduce the number of passwords needed.
I responded to a statement in Katz's article. I do not consider that to be off-topic.
My American friends and in-laws will be quite amazed to hear about my "anti-US hate". Thanks for letting me know. I hadn't realised that expressing a critical opinion of a film's accuracy is the same thing as "hate".
In a conflict, people on both sides can do terrible things, and then make biased films. I don't hate the people of Somalia or the US, but I am disturbed by people confusing a movie with real life.
Did the History Channel documentary mention the massacre of 54 people in Somalia by US troops while they were at a peace conference? Or the claims that the US soldiers took Somalian women and children as hostages? Any sympathetic shots of dying africans? How much screen time do the brave Malaysians get?
You can't wrap tragic events into entertainment without losing the truth.
The accounts of Somalian people also "involved" should also be read. And maybe the accounts of historians, UN investigators and journalists?
"Black Hawk Down" is a propaganda film, based on real events in which real people died for stupid reasons. A real tragedy occurred, but the film only shows a distorted view of what actually happened, and a very distorted view of why it happened.
How much time does the film give to the massacre of 54 people by US forces during a peace discussion? Or the firing of missiles into civilian areas by the US?
Maybe you should read what the rest of the world can read, in articles like this:
Both parties are almost identical! Most developed countries have a wider range of opinion inside any single political party than the Democrats and Republicans have combined - it's effectively a single party system.
If Gore and Bush both moved to the UK, they would both be ideologically within the range of the Conservative Party. Europeans find descriptions of the Democratic Partys as "the left" either hilarious or scary.
There is no choice. Most US Citizens can see this as pointless, and they don't have the optimism to try voting for a third party. Most US citizens don't vote. Media and business interests stifle what little free thinking remains. Is that a healthy democracy?
Let's face it, a large proportion of the US population only gained legal protection of their basic human rights within just over a generation. Is that a sign of a modern, functioning system?
Weren't some famous Presidents actually members of third parties, long ago? GW, maybe?
If you disapprove of political parties (I do too, by the way) surely more of them is better? The principles of competition apply here, you know. Monopolies and oligopolies can be political too. Variety is essential for a healthy democracy, just like it is for an economy.
And to end this rant, triggered by reading some of the sheer ignorance on this page:
Proportional representation does produce "weaker government". Fascist dictatorships, on the other extreme, produce "strong government". That isn't the issue, surely? Democracy is the issue. "Weak" governments often produce stable, prosperous countries. Germany? Japan, maybe?
If, as you say, it's the ignorant people who _don't_ vote, heaven help the US. It's smart voters are about to elect Bush...
Oops, sorry, you're using *that* definition of Socialism.
Try to look further than the Bush/Gore microcosm. Anywhere else in the world they would be in the same political party. In many ways, they are.
One party states are bad. Cuba and the USA need real choice, without established elites preventing true democracy. Most people in the US vote for the what'sthepoint party.
(It's at this point someone usually says "Duh, the Nazis were socialists". Sure.)
I got halfway through and gave up. The plot is a string of cliches and the writing style is dull and incredibly patronising. It was like reading a cyberpunk roleplaying manual adapted for pensioners.
Stopping the story to spend page after page rambling on about a futurist idea is not a good way to write SF, especially if those ideas were done to death a decade ago.
He writes as Arthur C. Clarke, but NASA and Slashdot miss out the C. Yes, it's off-topic and trivial, but I'm curious about this. In the UK he is always refered to as Arthur C. Clarke.
What's next? H. Lovecraft? M. James? J. Tolkien? CNN got it right, though.
First Amiga meant great hardware. Then Amiga meant great software. Now Amiga is the best vapourware. Nothing else comes close.
I heard some people say that "Amiga" is really just an attitude, rather than a particular technology. Maybe Amiga will become the best wetware next. I have more faith in the QNX based alternative than the "official" new AmigaOS with its mysterious hardware.
I still think AmigaOS is a great operating system, but it is tied to hardware that can't be modernised without hack piled on hack. There will soon be G4 processor upgrades for Amiga 1200s, for goodness sake.
I think the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish should be congratulated too;-)
British Telecom of course are shamelessly hyping ISDN ("Home Highway" blah) at the moment, presenting it as a new, amazingly fast technology rather than the old slow and expensive system it is. ISDN costs far too much in the UK.
You should read Noam Chomsky, especially "Deterring Democracy". Chomsky describes the USA as a "state terrorist". Terrorism is a method, and it can be used to protect the system as well as overthrow it. Many states use terrorism. There's a fair bit of it going on at the moment....
GEOS is still around and is still sold, but it has evolved quite a bit. The New Deal OS is based on GEOS and runs on IBM compatible PCs, even old 286s.
GEOS is still around and is still sold, but it has evolved quite a bit. The New Deal OS is based on GEOS and runs on IBM compatible PCs, even old 286s.
Slashdot Mirror
Each sysadmin only has the passwords they need, not the whole lot, and the pdas are looked after carefully. Each PDA has a different password, known only to the sysadmin.
You can't remotely bruteforce a Palm PDA. If it's stolen, then the batteries will die before the password is brute-forced by hand.
Well, that's the theory, but I know it isn't perfect. I'm still looking for a better solution.
I think the question isn't so much about storing passwords for systems to use, such as in LDAP or NIS directories, but about storing passwords for humans to access. The other half of a password system is also very important.
Directories like LDAP, Kerberos and NIS can reduce the number of passwords on a network and make maintenance easier (normal users can have one password for all systems they access) but there will still be many passwords. It's a very bad idea to give every workstation and server the same root password, for example.
Ordinary users can get by with one universal password for their network identity, but for system administrators it can be a nightmare. I've got about 130 passwords to keep track of.
The best solution I've come up with so far is to use cheap Palm PDAs to store the passwords, encrypted and locked with a good password itself, on special password storage apps. Each sysadmin can have a PDA with just their passwords on it. For about £80 each it isn't cheap, but it's a lot better than using password potected Word files, which I've seen other companies using. Don't use the Palm's own "secure" storage, it's useless for things that need to be really secure.
I'm still looking for a better solution - some way to store the passwords centrally and distribute them to each PDA depending on the requirements of each sysadmin would be great.
Of course, the way that passwords become so cumbersome in large quantities just shows how flawed passwords are. Hopefully Kerberos will catch on more - the advanced features of Kerberos help reduce the number of passwords needed.
I've read both comments.
I responded to a statement in Katz's article. I do not consider that to be off-topic.
My American friends and in-laws will be quite amazed to hear about my "anti-US hate". Thanks for letting me know. I hadn't realised that expressing a critical opinion of a film's accuracy is the same thing as "hate".
In a conflict, people on both sides can do terrible things, and then make biased films. I don't hate the people of Somalia or the US, but I am disturbed by people confusing a movie with real life.
Please feel free to mod me down in future.
Did the History Channel documentary mention the massacre of 54 people in Somalia by US troops while they were at a peace conference? Or the claims that the US soldiers took Somalian women and children as hostages? Any sympathetic shots of dying africans? How much screen time do the brave Malaysians get?
You can't wrap tragic events into entertainment without losing the truth.
The accounts of Somalian people also "involved" should also be read. And maybe the accounts of historians, UN investigators and journalists?
3 ,4 344998,00.html
"Black Hawk Down" is a propaganda film, based on real events in which real people died for stupid reasons. A real tragedy occurred, but the film only shows a distorted view of what actually happened, and a very distorted view of why it happened.
How much time does the film give to the massacre of 54 people by US forces during a peace discussion? Or the firing of missiles into civilian areas by the US?
Maybe you should read what the rest of the world can read, in articles like this:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,427
and rely less on semi-official propaganda. Do you think "Zulu" and cowboy movies are accurate? They're based on true events too, you know.
"Because it was true and well done, it hits us between the eyes."
True? Hmmm... 'Inspired by a real events' or 'based on a true story' would be more accurate. It's not exactly a documentary, is it?
Sometimes JonKatz articles resemble an advanced form of trolling. Damn, fell for it.
Both parties are almost identical! Most developed countries have a wider range of opinion inside any single political party than the Democrats and Republicans have combined - it's effectively a single party system.
If Gore and Bush both moved to the UK, they would both be ideologically within the range of the Conservative Party. Europeans find descriptions of the Democratic Partys as "the left" either hilarious or scary.
There is no choice. Most US Citizens can see this as pointless, and they don't have the optimism to try voting for a third party. Most US citizens don't vote. Media and business interests stifle what little free thinking remains. Is that a healthy democracy?
Let's face it, a large proportion of the US population only gained legal protection of their basic human rights within just over a generation. Is that a sign of a modern, functioning system?
Weren't some famous Presidents actually members of third parties, long ago? GW, maybe?
If you disapprove of political parties (I do too, by the way) surely more of them is better? The principles of competition apply here, you know. Monopolies and oligopolies can be political too. Variety is essential for a healthy democracy, just like it is for an economy.
And to end this rant, triggered by reading some of the sheer ignorance on this page:
Proportional representation does produce "weaker government". Fascist dictatorships, on the other extreme, produce "strong government". That isn't the issue, surely? Democracy is the issue. "Weak" governments often produce stable, prosperous countries. Germany? Japan, maybe?
If, as you say, it's the ignorant people who _don't_ vote, heaven help the US. It's smart voters are about to elect Bush...
Go to Cuba?
Why not Canada? Or the UK? Or Germany? Or Sweden?
Oops, sorry, you're using *that* definition of Socialism.
Try to look further than the Bush/Gore microcosm. Anywhere else in the world they would be in the same political party. In many ways, they are.
One party states are bad. Cuba and the USA need real choice, without established elites preventing true democracy. Most people in the US vote for the what'sthepoint party.
(It's at this point someone usually says "Duh, the Nazis were socialists". Sure.)
I got halfway through and gave up. The plot is a string of cliches and the writing style is dull and incredibly patronising. It was like reading a cyberpunk roleplaying manual adapted for pensioners.
Stopping the story to spend page after page rambling on about a futurist idea is not a good way to write SF, especially if those ideas were done to death a decade ago.
He writes as Arthur C. Clarke, but NASA and Slashdot miss out the C. Yes, it's off-topic and trivial, but I'm curious about this. In the UK he is always refered to as Arthur C. Clarke.
What's next? H. Lovecraft? M. James? J. Tolkien? CNN got it right, though.
First Amiga meant great hardware.
Then Amiga meant great software.
Now Amiga is the best vapourware. Nothing else comes close.
I heard some people say that "Amiga" is really just an attitude, rather than a particular technology. Maybe Amiga will become the best wetware next. I have more faith in the QNX based alternative than the "official" new AmigaOS with its mysterious hardware.
I still think AmigaOS is a great operating system, but it is tied to hardware that can't be modernised without hack piled on hack. There will soon be G4 processor upgrades for Amiga 1200s, for goodness sake.
I think the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish should be congratulated too ;-)
British Telecom of course are shamelessly hyping ISDN ("Home Highway" blah) at the moment, presenting it as a new, amazingly fast technology rather than the old slow and expensive system it is. ISDN costs far too much in the UK.
You should read Noam Chomsky, especially "Deterring Democracy". Chomsky describes the USA as a "state terrorist". Terrorism is a method, and it can be used to protect the system as well as overthrow it. Many states use terrorism. There's a fair bit of it going on at the moment....
GEOS is still around and is still sold, but it has evolved quite a bit. The New Deal OS is based on GEOS and runs on IBM compatible PCs, even old 286s.
You can read about it here:
http://www.altos.org.uk/newdeal/index.html
or go straight to the owners here:
http://www.newdealinc.com/
GEOS is still around and is still sold, but it has evolved quite a bit. The New Deal OS is based on GEOS and runs on IBM compatible PCs, even old 286s.
You can read about it here:
http://www.altos.org.uk/newdeal/index.html
or go straight to the owners here:
http://www.newdealinc.com/